lol TOPS love their gimmicky shit *looks at tom brown tracker and devils elbow etc*
They have some gimicky stuff as that fits their market. They also have many more traditional blades. You need to have some companies willing to explore different styles and application specific blades, otherwise everything would look like a loveless drop point and we'd be done!
A few things I like about TOPs are 1) they put the designer front and centre of the model and give credit where credit is due (i.e. they don't steal designs like certain other companies), 2) they use great steels (1095, 440C) and never try to hype the steel beyond what it is (i.e. unlike certain companies), 3) they stick with quality handle materials such as micarta (i.e. not rubbery/plastic crap), 4) the owners are tight with Brian Jones (enough said), 5) they are always coming up with innovative designs while maintaining decent quality standards.
This only consistent legitimate critique I hear about TOPs is that their edges are too thick. This is part and parcel with application. Busse gets the same reputation, although Busse has been coming up with thinner models lately. The other knock they get is over charging for 1095 where among every other sub-forum aside from W&SS people seem to think that companies use 1095 because it is cheap. Oh well, let them think their truly expensive chip ridden ZDP-189 is superior, whatever floats their boat
TOPS is continuously on the forefront of design innovation and releasing models and they pay real dividends to their designers. That comes at a cost and hence their price. Nothing wrong with that.
Anyhow, that was a rant but I hate to see a really good company always being put down like that.
As for this design. Well for my tastes, I'm like most people here and find it too busy. Too many specialized functions that may very well be tailored to the designer's uses but not a lot of it that I would use.
The more I ponder it, the more I like a small knife, larger knife combo and perhaps a little folding saw. Do I need them all in one package?